A Compendium of the History and Use of Magics Ritual, 8th Ed
by Lord Talon McClaw
Summary: The Department of Runic Studies at the American University of Magic in Boston is happy to announce the newest edition of it's esteemed professor, Dr. Charlus Orion Evan's work, "A Compendium of the History and Use of Magics Ritual". This newest publishing is predicted to continue to serve as the one-stop source for all things ritual magic for scholars and practitioners alike.


**_A Compendium of the History and Use of Magics Ritual_**

8th Edition

Volume I

Written by Charlus Orion Evans

Edited by Lord Talon McClaw

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_Note From The Editor_

It was rather a surprise when I was first asked to edit and provide an introduction to this most recent edition of _A Compendium of the History and Use of Magics Ritual_. Professor Charlus Evans has been a good friend and a colleague of mine for many years, and even with the fact that I am many years his senior, I find it a great honor that he would entrust me with the final preparations of his stellar work.

Charlus and I actually met when I joined the faculty at the American University of Magic – Boston. He was rather young then, certainly the youngest professor in not only the Department of Runic Studies, but also the history of the university itself. At the time I joined the department, Charlus had only been at the university for a couple years, but even so it was immediately apparent to me and anyone else who met him that he was the absolute expert on the topic of ritual magic and more than likely knew more about them than just about everyone else combined.

Magical rituals may be the most complex and controversial branches of magic known to modern day mages - Complex in that rituals frequently utilize magic belonging to branches as diverse as runes, potions, charms, and transfiguration, along with countless other areas of study. And they are certainly controversial as most forms of rituals have been banned by different magical ministries and governments across the globe.

In fact, the sale of this book (but not possession) is still prohibited in most European nations.

Because of the complexity and controversy surrounding the use of rituals, the world has lacked an updated tome on the history of rituals for the past eight hundred to a thousand years. It wasn't until the year 1994 that the magical community worldwide was gifted with such a tome in the form of Dr. Evans' (then _Mr. Evans_) work, _A Compendium of Magics Ritual_.

We have since seen six further editions of this now hefty publication as well as an in-depth expansion to include the history and use of some specific rituals. These revisions have seen the book sold more than twenty million times worldwide along with an absolute explosion in both the study and use of rituals of all kinds.

And now, almost exactly twenty years after the publication of the first edition, it is my absolute honor to introduce the reader, without further adieu, to the most recent update of _A Compendium of the History and Use of Magics Ritual_.

Lord Talon McClaw

Senior Professor and Department Chair

Department of Runic Studies

American University of Magic - Boston

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_Forward by the Author_

As I sit here, going over the last bit of work for this updated publication and writing this 'forward', I can't help but be amazed by how things have gone since I first began to investigate magical rituals. I was twelve, actually, when rituals first caught my eye while at school. At the time I wouldn't have considered myself much of an academic at all, and I certainly didn't expect to have published a book on the topic by fifteen and hold a professorship at a magical university by sixteen.

The only goal I had in mind as I perused the restricted section of my school's library was to find some method of protecting my first friend and familiar.

Oh, how things have changed.

I remember still, the first time I looked upon a reference to the _Familiarium Vincio_ ritual. I had just come out of a rather difficult time in my life and my priority was finding a way to protect my faithful owl from the hardships that struck out at my time and time again. I first found references to the _Familiarium Vincio_ and then not long after I found the ritual itself tucked away in a long-forgotten musty tome. The ritual was originally used to bind an animal to a witch or wizard, essentially creating a familial bond (as the name implies) between the two so that the witch or wizard could draw on the essence of their familiar for protection and use of any magical abilities the animal possessed.

While basically what I was looking for, it wasn't quite perfect. While affording some additional protective qualities to the familiar in the form of longer lifespan and resistance to diseases, the focus of the ritual was on serving the witch or wizard.

In my youthful naivety and mild desperation, I thought that with some tweaking I could reverse the "flow", as it were, of the ritual so that my soon-to-be familiar would receive the protections normally afforded to the human.

With this goal in mind I began extensively studying runes, arithmancy, and anything on rituals that I could find. Of course at that time there were very few experts on ritual magic, and certainly none at my school, so I was left with self study and taking frighteningly large quantities of notes.

Just over a year after I found the _Familiarium Vincio_ ritual I had it modified to my satisfaction and performed it during the winter holidays. That is, of course, when things went very different to what I had expected.

Twenty-two years later, my then soon-to-be familiar now spends most of her time using the magic I gifted to her during the ritual to take shape as a human. We are in fact happily married and have three wonderful _very much human_ children. Given these facts, while I can't say the ritual I so foolishly modified went right, I will never say that it went wrong.

Looking back on where I've been and where my life has taken me, I realize now that things would have certainly been very different if ritual magic was better understood and taught when I was first dabbling in the subject. It was my recognition of this educational void in light of the different than expected outcome to the _Familiarium Vincio_ ritual that led me to seek publication for the notes I had taken in researching and modifying it.

I was twelve when I first read about rituals. It was just over two years later when the first edition of _A Compendium of Magics Ritual_ was published. At fifteen I was already conducting research at the American University of Magic in Boston. I served as the interim department chair for Runic Studies at the same university for the years between my twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth birthdays. And while my life took a path I could never have predicted, my wife Hedwig and I would never give up even a single step.

I thank you for taking the time to read _A Compendium of the History and Use of Magics Ritual_ and I hope that ritual magic will enrich and change your life as much as it has mine.

Charlus Orion Evans

Wingham B. Crotty chaired Professor of Ritual Magic

Department of Runic Studies

American University of Magic in Boston

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**AN:** This is my newest project and I will be writing the actual textbook "_A Compendium of the History and Use of Magics Ritual_" along with the fanfic "_Harry Potter and the Rewritten Ritual_". Please keep in mind that this "story" will be more of a living document as I work through writing "_Rewritten Ritual_" and broaden my use and implementation of ritual magic. Be patient with me as, with any textbook, this is likely to go through many changes and updates. If anyone is interested in contributing to this text on ritual magic, please feel free to let me know.


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